Bush Blesses Sharon's Wall

Abdulwahab Badrakhan     Al-Hayat     2003/07/31

The White House spokesman was forced to announce that President George Bush "did not change" his position from Israel's "Berlin Wall." Of course he did not change his position, because he always supported it, as long as the war criminal Ariel Sharon tells him that the wall was built for security reasons - that is to combat terror. As soon as Bush hears the expression "terror," he reacts automatically - as in the Pavlov experiment - and he becomes blind, and only sees what is being presented to him as terror.

Bush didn't change his position either on the issue of the Palestinian prisoners-hostages. He supports their continued detention, and consequently supports the blackmail that Sharon and Mofaz are practicing in return for Palestinian concessions. Still, Bush has not changed his mind regarding the creation of a Palestinian state; he supports it provided "terror is ended." Here is the president of the sole superpower in the world, who has hundreds of experts explaining to him the reasons for international conflicts and has responsibilities toward peoples and governments, and yet, he views the Palestinian people's aspirations as a security game, which the Israelis have created and succeeded in implanting in his head.

This only highlights the legendary weakness of Arab diplomacy. What we are witnessing for the thousandth time is the scenario of Israel's lies and deceptiveness laid out to an American president who is fully prepared to believe everything, because all he thinks about is the Jewish money and votes he will need in his forthcoming elections campaign. And for that great goal, vital to the world and humanity, it makes no difference whether the gang of Sharon releases the hostages or keeps them, nor does it make any difference if the new "Berlin Wall" takes up further Palestinian land or if it destroys the trust between Israelis and Palestinians. There is even no need to cause a crisis with Sharon because of the settlements, and consequently, there is no need for any change in the traditional U.S. policy just to implement the Roadmap. In the end, that map was created to silence the Palestinians.

In the meantime, the Palestinian Prime Minister said that he felt "very comfortable" with the understanding that the U.S. administration showed regarding the issues he addressed. It is difficult to say that many share his feeling, especially following the declarations by Bush and Sharon following their White House meeting. And while the debate rages about the issue of prisoners/hostages, the Israelis announced that they had arrested, or rather kidnapped, two Hamas activists in the West Bank yesterday. And while Sharon built the success of his visit to Washington on a series of measures he announced before going to the U.S., it is no secret that it is a whole different matter to announce such measures and then to implement them. What is important is to deceive the Americans, after that, the issues can be addressed separately. On the other hand, when the Palestinian official says he is comfortable with the niceties he received from the Americans, the latter have proven many times in the past that they consider these statements as a testament to their neutrality and honesty, which has never been demonstrated.

And while efforts were underway to release 15 hostages who had been kidnapped by an armed gang in the Algeria desert, Bush and Sharon were discussing in Washington the terms for the release of more than 6000 Palestinian hostages who have been held by Israel for years because they resist the occupation. And despite the fact that Bush and Sharon do not believe that there is an occupation, they have reached an agreement that will not be denied by the facts in the future: Releasing some of the hostages in order to "support" the position of the Palestinian prime minister, and then to release some more in return for remaining quite over the wall, and later the settlements, provided Sharon keeps enough hostages in order to use them in blackmailing the Palestinian government later.

Bush and Sharon then moved to the issue of the wall. It is clear that they did not discuss it for long.; otherwise they would have come out with a serious position worthy of two statesmen. Had the president issued a declaration to the effect that he understands the security reasons for creating the wall, and declares that the U.S. will not recognize that wall in any future negations over the borders, the Palestinian prime minister would have been right to announce that he was "comfortable" to the American position.